What do you think?
Rate this book
Rusty #4
Rusty and the Leopard
Rusty s adventures in the Doon valley and the Garhwal hills.
Rusty, having run away from his guardian s home, is now trying to define his identity as he lives with the Kapoor family, tutoring their son Kishen and occupying the room on the roof. Soon, he becomes close to Kishen and, in the company of Meena Kapoor, begins to come into his own as an individual. Then tragedy strikes Meena s death devastates Rusty, and he leaves Dehra Dun. Rusty and Kishen take to the open road, and their adventures accumulate as they tramp through the Doon valley and the Garhwal hills. His time on the road allows Rusty to decide what he really wants to do and by the end of the book he is preparing for a trip to London, dreaming of becoming a writer.
Full of incident as well as introspection, this is a book older children will thoroughly enjoy.
Rusty, having run away from his guardian s home, is now trying to define his identity as he lives with the Kapoor family, tutoring their son Kishen and occupying the room on the roof. Soon, he becomes close to Kishen and, in the company of Meena Kapoor, begins to come into his own as an individual. Then tragedy strikes Meena s death devastates Rusty, and he leaves Dehra Dun. Rusty and Kishen take to the open road, and their adventures accumulate as they tramp through the Doon valley and the Garhwal hills. His time on the road allows Rusty to decide what he really wants to do and by the end of the book he is preparing for a trip to London, dreaming of becoming a writer.
Full of incident as well as introspection, this is a book older children will thoroughly enjoy.
158 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
24 people are currently reading
330 people want to read
About the author
Ruskin Bond
667 books3,502 followersRuskin Bond is an Indian author of British descent. He is considered to be an icon among Indian writers and children's authors and a top novelist. He wrote his first novel, The Room on the Roof, when he was seventeen which won John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. Since then he has written several novellas, over 500 short stories, as well as various essays and poems, all of which have established him as one of the best-loved and most admired chroniclers of contemporary India. In 1992 he received the Sahitya Akademi award for English writing, for his short stories collection, "Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra", by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters in India. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 for contributions to children's literature. He now lives with his adopted family in Landour near Mussoorie.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
November 1, 2024
i have to laugh
October 29, 2020
I'm so confused. I am not sure what to rate it. Not 3, because my rating system says: "It's not really my favorite. Decent, but forgettable. I might not read it again."
Yeah. But it's decent, and NOT forgettable. So I might be untrue to my rating.
But this one is so hard to decipher. I liked it, but it was surely not Ruskin Bond's best work. It could have been so much better. So, beware a rant, a big rant ahead.
To continue, sometimes I just wanted to cringe away from Rusty; spending so much time in his head got tiring. I felt he was so 'sexist' at times... but damn, he is a 17 yr old teen. Never forget that.
But how are we supposed to keep that in mind? By some actions, Rusty felt as if he was an 11 or 12-year-old. In some parts, it felt like he was 30, thinking that he has to take resposibilty. Ugh, man.
No, he was not exactly annoying, but not exactly likable either.
BuT. bUt. You probably know, BUT... wait for it... I DNF-ed this 2 times before. And finally, on my third try, I succeeded. I didn't want to admit, because it's Ruskin Bond . Yes, I'm biased.
The first time, I suspect I was too young, not understanding anything.
Then, maybe it got better. Earlier in the year, I started reading it, but soon stopped, when I decided to reread Harry Potter.
So yeah.
BUT THEN, WHAT THE HECK IS THAT TITLE?! LEOPARD? SHOW ME THAT LEOPARD. HOW IS IT 'RUSTY AND THE LEOPARD' WHEN WE JUST GET A CHAPTER WHERE RUSTY REMENCISCES HIS MEETING WITH DIFFERENT LEOPARDS, TWICE. IN THE PAST. SO BASICALLY, THIS NOVEL IS USELESS?!
You may be tired of my excessive use of CAPITAL LETTERS, underscores, italics, and bolds, but hey! I warned you. Because that's what we do in rants. Even if we are not sure of what to rate the book.
And then the only lesson we get from this big 300-page novel is that move on. Life goes on. It's a good - keyword: good, not great - lesson. I could literally make out 10 lessons from Bond's 3-page short story. But this.
So let's conclude this mess. I liked it, but am not obsessed with it like the other collections. It could have been so much better. And that title. I am sorry. So, 3.5 stars, rounded down.
Yeah. But it's decent, and NOT forgettable. So I might be untrue to my rating.
But this one is so hard to decipher. I liked it, but it was surely not Ruskin Bond's best work. It could have been so much better. So, beware a rant, a big rant ahead.
To continue, sometimes I just wanted to cringe away from Rusty; spending so much time in his head got tiring. I felt he was so 'sexist' at times... but damn, he is a 17 yr old teen. Never forget that.
But how are we supposed to keep that in mind? By some actions, Rusty felt as if he was an 11 or 12-year-old. In some parts, it felt like he was 30, thinking that he has to take resposibilty. Ugh, man.
No, he was not exactly annoying, but not exactly likable either.
BuT. bUt. You probably know, BUT... wait for it... I DNF-ed this 2 times before. And finally, on my third try, I succeeded. I didn't want to admit, because it's Ruskin Bond . Yes, I'm biased.
The first time, I suspect I was too young, not understanding anything.
Then, maybe it got better. Earlier in the year, I started reading it, but soon stopped, when I decided to reread Harry Potter.
So yeah.
BUT THEN, WHAT THE HECK IS THAT TITLE?! LEOPARD? SHOW ME THAT LEOPARD. HOW IS IT 'RUSTY AND THE LEOPARD' WHEN WE JUST GET A CHAPTER WHERE RUSTY REMENCISCES HIS MEETING WITH DIFFERENT LEOPARDS, TWICE. IN THE PAST. SO BASICALLY, THIS NOVEL IS USELESS?!
You may be tired of my excessive use of CAPITAL LETTERS, underscores, italics, and bolds, but hey! I warned you. Because that's what we do in rants. Even if we are not sure of what to rate the book.
And then the only lesson we get from this big 300-page novel is that move on. Life goes on. It's a good - keyword: good, not great - lesson. I could literally make out 10 lessons from Bond's 3-page short story. But this.
So let's conclude this mess. I liked it, but am not obsessed with it like the other collections. It could have been so much better. And that title. I am sorry. So, 3.5 stars, rounded down.
November 5, 2018
This was gifted to me as a beautiful gift, and I thus saved it as the last book for my year's Goodreads challenge. Book #52 of 52, Rusty and the Leopard. :)
This was such a delicate, enthralling book. It marks my first encounter with a Ruskin Bond work, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Though marked as fiction, it's difficult to say, minus a few fractions, that this wasn't real. Bond paints such a relatable picture, that's teasing at one's imagination with alterations in his doses of philosophy, humor and honesty. The bits of romance were quite unexpected and peculiar, but brought back the nostalgia of teenage love! :')
This book has a half-half ratio of plot and description, so it's a little more descriptive than I'd like, but that's a personal choice and not a say against the book itself.
It's a good book to unwind down to, and I look forward to reading more of Rusty's stories! 4 on 5 stars, for me.
This was such a delicate, enthralling book. It marks my first encounter with a Ruskin Bond work, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Though marked as fiction, it's difficult to say, minus a few fractions, that this wasn't real. Bond paints such a relatable picture, that's teasing at one's imagination with alterations in his doses of philosophy, humor and honesty. The bits of romance were quite unexpected and peculiar, but brought back the nostalgia of teenage love! :')
This book has a half-half ratio of plot and description, so it's a little more descriptive than I'd like, but that's a personal choice and not a say against the book itself.
It's a good book to unwind down to, and I look forward to reading more of Rusty's stories! 4 on 5 stars, for me.
November 2, 2013
My uncle gifted me this book. It was awesome.
October 11, 2022
This is such a pleasant read! As always he makes me happy by his glorious writing. Loved it❤
December 23, 2020
I'm so confused. I am not sure what to rate it. Not 3, because my rating system says: "It's not really my favorite. Decent, but forgettable. I might not read it again."
Yeah. But it's decent, and NOT forgettable. So I might be untrue to my rating.
But this one is so hard to decipher. I liked it, but it was surely not Ruskin Bond's best work. It could have been so much better. So, beware a rant, a big rant ahead.
To continue, sometimes I just wanted to cringe away from Rusty; spending so much time in his head got tiring. I felt he was so 'sexist' at times... but damn, he is a 17 yr old teen. Never forget that.
But how are we supposed to keep that in mind? By some actions, Rusty felt as if he was an 11 or 12-year-old. In some parts, it felt like he was 30, thinking that he has to take resposibilty. Ugh, man.
No, he was not exactly annoying, but not exactly likable either.
BuT. bUt. You probably know, BUT... wait for it... I DNF-ed this 2 times before. And finally, on my third try, I succeeded. I didn't want to admit, because it's Ruskin Bond . Yes, I'm biased.
The first time, I suspect I was too young, not understanding anything.
Then, maybe it got better. Earlier in the year, I started reading it, but soon stopped, when I decided to reread Harry Potter.
So yeah.
BUT THEN, WHAT THE HECK IS THAT TITLE?! LEOPARD? SHOW ME THAT LEOPARD. HOW IS IT 'RUSTY AND THE LEOPARD' WHEN WE JUST GET A CHAPTER WHERE RUSTY REMENCISCES HIS MEETING WITH DIFFERENT LEOPARDS, TWICE. IN THE PAST. SO BASICALLY, THIS NOVEL IS USELESS?!
You may be tired of my excessive use of CAPITAL LETTERS, underscores, italics, and bolds, but hey! I warned you. Because that's what we do in rants. Even if we are not sure of what to rate the book.
And then the only lesson we get from this big 300-page novel is that move on. Life goes on. It's a good - keyword: good, not great - lesson. I could literally make out 10 lessons from Bond's 3-page short story. But this.
So let's conclude this mess. I liked it, but am not obsessed with it like the other collections. It could have been so much better. And that title. I am sorry. So, 3.5 stars, rounded down.
Yeah. But it's decent, and NOT forgettable. So I might be untrue to my rating.
But this one is so hard to decipher. I liked it, but it was surely not Ruskin Bond's best work. It could have been so much better. So, beware a rant, a big rant ahead.
To continue, sometimes I just wanted to cringe away from Rusty; spending so much time in his head got tiring. I felt he was so 'sexist' at times... but damn, he is a 17 yr old teen. Never forget that.
But how are we supposed to keep that in mind? By some actions, Rusty felt as if he was an 11 or 12-year-old. In some parts, it felt like he was 30, thinking that he has to take resposibilty. Ugh, man.
No, he was not exactly annoying, but not exactly likable either.
BuT. bUt. You probably know, BUT... wait for it... I DNF-ed this 2 times before. And finally, on my third try, I succeeded. I didn't want to admit, because it's Ruskin Bond . Yes, I'm biased.
The first time, I suspect I was too young, not understanding anything.
Then, maybe it got better. Earlier in the year, I started reading it, but soon stopped, when I decided to reread Harry Potter.
So yeah.
BUT THEN, WHAT THE HECK IS THAT TITLE?! LEOPARD? SHOW ME THAT LEOPARD. HOW IS IT 'RUSTY AND THE LEOPARD' WHEN WE JUST GET A CHAPTER WHERE RUSTY REMENCISCES HIS MEETING WITH DIFFERENT LEOPARDS, TWICE. IN THE PAST. SO BASICALLY, THIS NOVEL IS USELESS?!
You may be tired of my excessive use of CAPITAL LETTERS, underscores, italics, and bolds, but hey! I warned you. Because that's what we do in rants. Even if we are not sure of what to rate the book.
And then the only lesson we get from this big 300-page novel is that move on. Life goes on. It's a good - keyword: good, not great - lesson. I could literally make out 10 lessons from Bond's 3-page short story. But this.
So let's conclude this mess. I liked it, but am not obsessed with it like the other collections. It could have been so much better. And that title. I am sorry. So, 3.5 stars, rounded down.
December 11, 2022
-
Book 98 of 2022-Rusty and the Leopard
Author-Ruskin Bond
“I know you’re not happy, you must be lonely. But wait a little,be patient and the bad days will pass. We don’t know why we live. It’s no use trying to know, but we have to live. Because we really want to. And as long as we want to,we have got to find something to live for and even die for it.”
I was very excited to read this book as it is also part of my favourite “Rusty” series. It’s story about his adulthood days and the incidents that followed after he left his guardian’s house. He was alone, he made some friends-the famous Ranbir,Soni and Kishen. His adventure with his friends and what he does for a living is what this book is all about. We all deserve a friend like “Somi”, everytime somi appears in the book..my heart feels so full.
This book would be a perfect read for those who haven’t read much of Ruskin Bond’s books. I’ve read a lot of Ruskin bond books this year. I know his adulthood days and his life by heart now. I literally skimmed lot of chapters in this book because I’ve read them already in other books.
As always, enjoyed his story telling and his way of describing the mundane,little things of life!
Book 98 of 2022-Rusty and the Leopard
Author-Ruskin Bond
“I know you’re not happy, you must be lonely. But wait a little,be patient and the bad days will pass. We don’t know why we live. It’s no use trying to know, but we have to live. Because we really want to. And as long as we want to,we have got to find something to live for and even die for it.”
I was very excited to read this book as it is also part of my favourite “Rusty” series. It’s story about his adulthood days and the incidents that followed after he left his guardian’s house. He was alone, he made some friends-the famous Ranbir,Soni and Kishen. His adventure with his friends and what he does for a living is what this book is all about. We all deserve a friend like “Somi”, everytime somi appears in the book..my heart feels so full.
This book would be a perfect read for those who haven’t read much of Ruskin Bond’s books. I’ve read a lot of Ruskin bond books this year. I know his adulthood days and his life by heart now. I literally skimmed lot of chapters in this book because I’ve read them already in other books.
As always, enjoyed his story telling and his way of describing the mundane,little things of life!
May 16, 2020
This is the first Ruskin Bond book which I ever read and now it would probably be the fifth or sixth time (sorry can't keep count) I have read it. It is a wonderful story about an adolescent named Rusty who begins to explore the true India with his unique mix of friends such as Kishen, Somi and many more after many years due to the strict and rash Mr Harrison. Though true Ruskin Bond fans would know this book is actually an edited version of Ruskin Bond's "Room on the Roof"(his first novel), this novel does provide more stories of Rusty during that period of time that is not present in the original book. Really enjoyed this book again and I would continue to re-read this in my life.
January 16, 2022
A book that is very close to my heart. Ruskin bond's writing always paint a picture of those beautiful hills of dehra. The way he writes is gripping and the stories and anecdotes so incredibly beautiful. Two stories of ruskin bond that i wish i never forget are the one with koki his neighbours granddaughter and that of the woman on the train station. This book is bound to leave your heart smiling.
December 12, 2018
Reading it a very young age - quite a good introduction into the world of reading the "big books".
January 29, 2019
A mesmerizing read. Loved it...
July 15, 2020
If you have read room on the roof by ruskin bond you better not read this because it is the same story , although the book is really good
May 9, 2021
nature at its best 🦋
February 5, 2023
An easy read and relatable for an Indian audience . The story collection is very engaging.
May 31, 2023
Everything Ruskin Bond writes is a magic and a warm hug in a winters night.
May 25, 2025
Melancholic, bittersweet. The passage of time, the ache of holding on, and the inevitability of letting go.
August 28, 2014
This review is written by me after a long time (really long). As usual, Ruskin Bond's mesmerizing, but completely simple form of writing has excited me once again.
As the name suggests, you might think that the story revolves around a leopard, but you are completely wrong if you think so! I believe, the first appearance of a leopard was in the last quarter of the book. This is the third book in the 'Rusty' series, and I found it more interesting than the previous versions, as Rusty, the protagonist becomes a lot matured in this book, and he meets a lot of new people to set a life of his own. I felt that 'Rusty's Life' or 'The Adventures of Rusty' as a name for this book would sound appropriate.
Read this book to find out how will Rusty's fate take shape, and what will happen at the end. If you don't prefer to read the book, then simply read what is written below this!
As the name suggests, you might think that the story revolves around a leopard, but you are completely wrong if you think so! I believe, the first appearance of a leopard was in the last quarter of the book. This is the third book in the 'Rusty' series, and I found it more interesting than the previous versions, as Rusty, the protagonist becomes a lot matured in this book, and he meets a lot of new people to set a life of his own. I felt that 'Rusty's Life' or 'The Adventures of Rusty' as a name for this book would sound appropriate.
Read this book to find out how will Rusty's fate take shape, and what will happen at the end. If you don't prefer to read the book, then simply read what is written below this!
June 4, 2023
Rusty and the Leopard is the third book in the Rusty series. It starts where the second book in this series 'Rusty Runs Away' ends. This book is a compilation of 'The room on the Roof' and 'The Vagrants in the Valley', with a sprinkle of some known stories of Ruskin Bond. The stories of types of supernatural beings are told by Somi's mom. There's a pool, another hidden pool, discovered this time by Rusty, where they enjoy during rainy season, bathing in it, wrestling on the sands, riding buffaloes, and after that plan for a trek to Pindari Glacier, and they go there. The beautiful descriptions of the trek leave you mesmerised. Rusty also had memories of his encounters with leopards. Ruskin Bond specializes in describing animal life as good as he portrays nature. Dignity of this majestic animal is maintained throughout the story.
This book is about a 17 years old Rusty discovering himself, the meaning of his life, and his place in the world. He is eager to find his existence. He is trying to step into adulthood on his own, and is stepping on the road of his dreams. He begins his journey to England, and the book ends here. The book is a wonderful and mesmerising read, must for Ruskin Bond fans.
This book is about a 17 years old Rusty discovering himself, the meaning of his life, and his place in the world. He is eager to find his existence. He is trying to step into adulthood on his own, and is stepping on the road of his dreams. He begins his journey to England, and the book ends here. The book is a wonderful and mesmerising read, must for Ruskin Bond fans.
December 3, 2012
good book
Read
April 16, 2015This was my 2nd of Ruskin Bond. I liked it much rather than Famous Five.
August 30, 2025
A soulful read for a confused Indian teenager
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews